One Hell of a Brother
by LuxAve
Summary: "It was dark, and cold. Cold and dark. And loud. Dozens of people, it sounded like, shouting, chanting, and speaking in rushed manors above him. 'What do you want' 'The power to destroy and take revenge on everyone who did this to us.'" The Black Butler AU that no one asked for.
1. His Brother, Contacted

**The Black Butler AU that nobody has asked for; well kiddies, I'll write it for ya anyway!**

 **(-)**

 **One** _ **Hell**_ **of a Brother**

 **1.**

 _It was dark, and cold. Cold and dark. And loud. Dozens of people, it sounded like, shouting, chanting, and speaking in rushed manors above him. He couldn't see anyone's faces; something covered his brown eyes, tied around his head tightly to keep anything from being viewed by him._

 _He was s also in pain._

 _It was cold, dark, loud, and he hurt. Everywhere._

 _Bruises lined every other inch of his body, his hair had been pulled, his ankle was twisted, and something had pricked him on the inside of his arm._

 _Everything hurt._

 _He just wanted to go home. Of course, what home would he go to? His family's mansion caught fire, and as far as he was aware of, nobody made it out. Except for him._

 _But did he really make it out?_

 _He only had just made it out of the door, his little ten-year-old body trying to keep up with how fast his little-mature-for-his-age mind, when someone grabbed him – by his hair and a color of his shirt – and everything went dark while everything was lit up._

 _The eerie silence brought him back from his thoughts. He was still lying on the table he had been strapped to, but no one was making a sound for him to hear. He listened intently for a good minute before he was able to hear a faint 'hissing' sound and the shuffle of feet._

 _He knew what he was being used for – the cult that had taken him explained it rather thoroughly. He was a sacrifice. He was only ten years old, and was being used as a sacrifice. Most ten year olds are worried about walking into the wrong classroom at the beginning of fourth grade, or wondering if the boy who pulled the girl's hair likes her or not. Simple elementary things._

 _But him? He was worried about if this sacrificing thing actually worked or not? And if it did, what would happen to him? What would happen to him if it didn't?_

 _The shuffling and hissing sounds got closer to him, and bravely, his turned his head in the noise's direction, daring it to come closer. And unfortunately for him, it took his challenge and ran with it. He braced himself for something, what, he had no idea, but his muscles tensed, he curled his hands into fists, clenched his teeth; he braced._

 _A lot of damn good that did._

 _A white, blinding pain erupted from his side, just below his chest, on his diaphragm; He screamed behind the cloth over his mouth, arching his back off the table and trying to get away from whatever was burning him. He struggled and cried for who knows how long until the object was pulled away from his abused and tortured body._

Did they just brand me? _His mind raced when that entered; that would be the only explanation as to why they just stuck some kind of burning pipe or stamp or whatever against his skin._ I can' t take anymore of this. _He finally started to succumb to the fact he was never escaping where ever he was, from who ever had strapped him to the table, from who ever had tortured him for the last however many daysweeksmonths._ Any faith in a higher being to help me is gone. I guess there never was such a thing. _He whimpered when he came to that startling conclusion. All his praying and pleading to someone went unheard._ I want out of here! _He let out a painful, heartbreaking cry._

 _Excited talking started anew, people walking all around him. He couldn't make out what they were saying – whether they were speaking his native language and he was just too far-gone to comprehend, or if they were speaking a different language all together, he wasn't sure. He didn't listen._

Just come and take me away, demon. _He screamed in his mind. He had lost the game of life, and he wanted to be taken out now. He was done._

 _It all went silent once more, like a thick blanket covered the room (or just him) and blocked any sort of sound from reaching his ears._

" _What do you want?" A silky-dark voice echoed in his mind, a voice that was not his own._

" _What?" He answered back, confusion colored the tone he mentally spoke with._

" _You have summoned me, what is it you want?" The voice asked again, patience backing the words._

" _I've summoned…. What?" He chocked back a sob. "I don't-"_

 _A pearly white smile came into his view, red eyes appearing second._

 _That's all he saw._

" _I am a demon, you dear child. You can make a contract with me, and fulfill whatever it is you wish, then once that's completed, as payment, I get your soul." The voice explained, the sharp-toothed smile moving with the words spoken. "You could just send me away, and I'll leave you to whatever it is_ they _are trying to do," The red eyes glanced towards the sides before looking back at him. "And I'll be on my way."_

 _A beat of a second passed, and the eyes and smile started slowly vanishing._

" _What!" His voice surprised him, as if they had spoken without his consent._

 _The facial features came back into view. "Yes?"_

 _His face grew cold and angry, but with a hint of desperation. "I want power. The power to destroy and take revenge on everyone who did this to us."_

 _The sound of heels clacking against a tiled floor echoed all around him._

" _As you wish, young master."_

 **(-)**

 **What am I doing?**

 **I don' know.**

 **I never know.**

 **If you're familiar with Black Butler, I've only seen seasons 1 an the animae (the only anime that I've watched in my life – Not counting Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon since everyone's preattm much seen one or the other, or both)**

 **How this going to go?**

 **I don' know.**

 **I never know.**

 **Did we just go over this?**

 **Open to suggestions.**

 **Nobody asked for this.**

 **But I'm giving it to you anyway.**


	2. His Brother, Clueless

**To 'Hiro Hamada' who reviewed on the first chapter, Hun, just WHAT kinda stories are you looking up? I'm getting into a religion debate with someone who commented behind an anonymous/guest name. But I /AM/ a Christian and am not condoning selling anyone's soul, making any sort of deal with a satanic entity.**

 **That's just crazy. Look up different things if that's all you're finding.**

 **Anyways….**

 **(-)**

 **One** _ **Hell**_ **of a Brother**

 **His Brother, Clueless**

Dark blood-red curtains were closed tightly, sealing off any beam of light from getting in; the morning air was quiet, stead y and calm in the room, the only sounds were the deep, heavy breathing from the sleeping thirteen year old on his bed.

In one fluid movement, the curtains were flung open, sunlight dancing into the room with a chorus of "Wake up, Hiro! It's time to get up!"

The boy gave a muffled grunt and proceeded to pull one of his many pillows over his head, in a vain attempt to drown out any of his older brother's cheerfulness. "No." He grumped, pulling the fabric tighter around his ears.

The blankets were suddenly gone, making the boy shiver slightly at the instant change of temperature; and the pillow was ripped away from his small hands.

"Get up, get up. We've got things to do today." A young adult male voice reached Hiro's ears easily.

Hiro Hamada, the head of the house, the thirteen-year-old CEO of The Lucky Cat Confections, gave a huff as he tiredly sat up in bed and looked at the smiling face of his older brother, Tadashi. "You're too much of a morning person." The younger mumbled as he rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. He yawned and gave his arms a stretch after a few seconds.

Tadashi watched him from where he stood, at the foot of Hiro's bed, a small smirk on his face. "What's there not to love about the morning? A new day appears, new things to do, people to see, things to try." He went on and on about the joys of being up in the morning, and was just about to break into the perks of seeing the sunrise when the slam of a door stopped him.

At some point in his little monologue, Hiro woke up completely, got dressed and left the room.

The older male chuckled, "I should sat that every morning." He thought aloud and started making his way out of the room.

He took the long way through the house to reach the dining room, expecting to see Hiro there getting something to eat, but the mess of black hair was no where to be found. "Hiro?" He poked his head into the hallway to see if he had just beaten the kid there, but the little figure wasn't there either. He hummed in thought and made his way into the kitchens, where most of the small staff was in the morning.

"Good morning, Tadashi." Honey Lemon, the house maid greeted with a smile, she stood from her seat and gave a mock salute before sitting back down and taking a sip of her coffee.

"Good morning." He greeted back with a smile. "Has Hiro been in here yet?"

Cass, who everyone affectionately called Aunt Cass, was the cook of the house. She stood over the stove, stirring multiple pans and shook her head. "Nope. That boy needs to eat though, he's too thin!" She wiped her hands on a towel in her back pocket. "Does he want anything particular?"

He shrugged. "I don't think so, he didn't mention anything. I'm sure whatever you whip up, he'll love."

The middle-aged woman gave a soft nod. "Alrighty then. I'll have Wasabi bring it to his office?" She questioned the destination with a slight raise of her voice and an thin eyebrow. "When it's done." She finished when she got the conformational head nod from the thirteen year old's older brother.

"That would be great, Thanks Aunt Cass." He gave her a smile before walking out of the kitchen.

(-)

"So, that would make it faster, if it were placed here." Hiro mumbled to himself as he sat alone in his office working on a little robot he had been putting together for the better part of the week. He ignored all the paper work he had littered across his desk, important papers and forms he had to read and fill out in a timely manner.

He rolled the screwdriver in his hand around as he thoughtfully looked at the inner parts of the little machine "Of course, I could just remove it all together." He tapped the flat head against his chin.

The sound of someone knocking on his door broke him form his thoughts.

"Come in." He sighed and sat the little robot down.

Wasabi, the butler, wheeled in a little cart. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but both your brother and Cass want you to eat." He pushed the breakfast cart over to Hiro's desk. "She made you her lemon blueberry pancakes, and there are extra blueberries," He uncovered the platter and pointed to a bowl that had a little decorative ceramic lid on top, "in this bowl." He started to serve the breakfast to the young head of the house, but the teen stopped him.

"I can do it myself." Hiro told him as he fiddled with his robot. "I'll let you know when I'm done with the tray."

"Are you sure?" Wasabi asked. Serving the inhabitants of this house was part of his job, and being told that at the particular moment he didn't have to do that, made him feel guilty, lie he wasn't doing his job – even though the head of the house _himself_ told Wasabi it was fine.

Hiro nodded and finally looked up. "I'm sure. I'm _not_ sure of when I'll actually eat, I don't want to waste your time." He told the butler.

Wasabi gave a tiny nod. "Let me know if you need anything, sir."

"I will." Hiro replied and looked back to his little invention. "Thank you."

After he left, Hiro got back to work, completely removing the wires on the inside, confident that machine didn't need them.

"You know, you really should eat." Tadashi's voice over his shoulder startled the boy, making him drop both the robot and d the screwdriver.

"You scared me!" Hiro hissed quietly, shooting the demon behind him a glare.

The human-akin entity laughed.

"Wasn't that funny." The younger mumbled to himself as he picked up everything his dropped.

Tadashi sobered up. "But really, you should eat."

Hiro's brown eye rolled. "Why?" He gave a glance at the taller being beside him before looking back to his work. "I've got things t o do." He pulled apart another piece of the robot and began gently pulling a few of the wires out of that as well.

"Well," Tadashi pulled out the phone Hiro had given him, to make him seem more like the average 21 year old. "You have a meeting in about two hours. And we both know how long it takes for you to get ready for one of those."

"What? A meeting with who?" Hiro turned around to completely face Tadashi.

The shorter haired male scrolled through the reminder on the screen. "It just says the head of your branch in Tokyo." He pressed the alert button to close the reminder.

Hiro's uncovered eye peeked over at the clock on the wall. He sighed and began putting his robot pieces away. "Guess I'll work on this later." He mumbled to himself. He could have _sworn_ today was his free day. He reached over and pulled the breakfast tray onto the desk. "Want some?"

Tadashi made a face. "Unnecessary question."

Hiro gave a tiny shrug and moved around to reach the rest of the spread on the cart better.

"What are you working on anyway?" Tadashi asked glancing at a few of the papers Hiro had left out about the project.

"Eh, it's just a little trinket." He spread some butter on the pancakes. "I've been working on it since the beginning of the week." He drizzled some of Cass's lemon glaze on top.

"What's it gonna do?"

Hiro shrugged. "Not exactly sure."

Tadashi hummed, as he looked closer at the papers.

"Are you sure we can't reschedule?" The younger asked with a mouthful of pancake.

A baseball-capped head shook a no.

(-)

The three of them – Tadashi, Hiro, and the Tokyo branch head, Yoshi, sat at a table in the garden, discussing any problems that have risen at the company location, and comments or concerns brought to light, and a helluva lot of numbers.

"And we're down eighty percent." Yoshi told the brothers.

Hiro hummed in thought, he hated dealing with problems. Especially if this was an on going problem at a location, not company wide; it was to be the head of that branch's issue to resolve since they clearly weren't doing something right, and they were to come to Hiro as a last resort.

Yoshi looked between the two Hamadas sitting in front of him, his glance lingering at Tadashi more than Hiro, expecting Tadashi to say something.

Tadashi shook his head. "Hiro makes all the decisions." He vaguely explained.

Yoshi raised an eyebrow, but didn't question, wasn't his business. He looked to Hiro then.

The thirteen year old took a sip of water before replying. "Threaten to fire a few of your workers. Give it a few days, and if the fear of being fired doesn't help, actually fire some people. Not many, maybe two or three, just enough to get the point across."

Yoshi sat there for a beat. "That's kind of ruthless, don't you think?"

Hiro sat his glass down in a quick movement. "Of course it is." He said off-handedly. "This company," He leaned forward and put his hands together, "this company is a big company, it's a powerful company. You can't make a big and powerful company by employing slackers and people who don't take their works seriously. You can't get _anywhere_ in the world of business without at least a _faux_ -iron fist." Hiro stated. "My father was one of the nicest men you'd ever have the fortune to meet, he didn't like firing people. But after two years of working with friends, he fired them all and rehired people who took his business and company ideals seriously." He raised an eyebrow. "Can you do that, Yoshi?"

The man before him gave a tiny nod. "Yes, sir."

Hiro sat back in his seat. "Good."

(-)

Hiro was walking around the front gardens when the head of his branch in Tokyo was leaving. The thirteen year old, being the pre-teen his biologically was, couldn't help but eavesdrop on the phone conversation he was having.

"Yeah, they have botfights in San Fransokyo every night." Yoshi spoke quietly, but not suspiciously so. "The amount depends – how you are at weaseling your way in there without an invite, how good your bot is, who you're up against. So on and so on." He went quiet for a moment, listening to the person on the other end of the line. "No, I'm not brave enough to go into a botfight, are you crazy? They're illegal, first of all, and second, I like living." He joked with a seriousness in his voice. "I'll call you tonight."

Hiro heard the click of his employees phone, and after making an internal comment about it being a flip phone, he walked around a corner. "What's a botfight?" He asked, genuinely curious.

Yoshi froze when his employer appeared. "Oh, uh, it's illegal."

The teen nodded. "I got that when you told whoever that."

The older male relaxed a degree. "Well, it's a fight, obviously, but with little robots. You have to completely immobilized the opponent's bot."

Hiro gave a little nod. "That's interesting." He started walking towards the front gate, seeing his employee out. "Have there always been bot fights here?"

The Tokyo branch head shrugged. "I'm not really sure about that, I just heard about them a few years ago. There's fights like those in Tokyo all the time though." He fell instep with the teen. "They're also illegal there as well. But at least in Tokyo, they have these sponsored fights to win titles and other little things like that." He shrugged. "I'm not sure about here though."

Gears turned in Hiro's head. "How do I find out more about them?"

Yoshi gave a short glance down to Hiro as they stopped in front of the gate. "There's a website, I don't know it, that has all sort of information on it. They move the flights every time, so they don't get caught I presume, and a whole bunch of requirements you'd have to meet to actually participate. You'll have to look around and find it." He told Hiro. "It was a nice meeting, sir, thanks for the advice." He gave a deep bow to show his respect, which Hiro returned.

The teen turned back towards the house with a devious little smile on his face, a plan formulating in his mind, and a little robot his just found a purpose for to make.

(-)

Hiro found the website Yoshi had been talking about. While the process to find it would have been time consuming and slightly challenging for the average person, for Hiro, it only took him a matter of minutes; he had resources and methods most people didn't.

He read the requirements, what his bot couldn't do, how short it had to be and all those fun things. Then he got to work finishing up the little robot he had been working on.

He was going to go to that botfight that was scheduled the next day; he just had to find a way to sneak out from underneath his demon's nose.

"Oh, good evening, sir." Wasabi said as the teen passed the butler in the hallway.

"Good evening, Wasabi." Hiro greeted back, trying to his robot behind him.

The bigger man raised an eyebrow at the head of the house's sudden suspicious behavior, but didn't make a comment about it. Instead he chose to straighten up the few pictures along the wall he had noticed needing to be straightened. The second his back was turned, the teen practically tripped over himself to get away.

He managed to get back to his room without running into anymore of the house staff, or his demon of a brother. "Now, to sneak out." He muttered to himself as he grabbed one of his jackets and stuffed his little robot, that he named Megabot, and the little controller into his pockets. He glanced over at the clock as he changed his eye patch from his formal black one to a medical one he wore in public; a glimpse of his seal would be seen if he didn't wear one.

 _He would be in the library right now._ He thought to himself. He ran over to his door, peeked out it, before shutting it again – just making sure nobody was there. Then he made his way to his window, and the conveniently placed trellis.

(-)

"Did Hiro already go to bed?" Tadashi asked when he couldn't find the boy.

"I'm not sure, hun." Cass shrugged as she went about cleaning up the mess she made in the kitchen, Wasabi helping her out.

"I did see him a little while ago." Wasabi gave a glance over his shoulder. "He seemed kinda skittish, if you ask me." He told him. "Look liked he was hiding something." He was never one for lying, especially to someone who could take a way his job.

Tadashi cocked his head in the direction of Hiro's room.

He couldn't feel the boy's presence in the house anymore. And he wasn't exactly sure when it disappeared.


	3. His Brother, Eerie

**So. As I was typing this up and finishing it, I realized "Oh! Only a hundred more words to make three thousand!" My next thought an hour later "Oh! Only three hundred more words till four!"**

 **And thus, a 4094 worded chapter was written. Longest chapter I've written (one shots excluded).**

 **(-)**

 **One** _ **Hell**_ **of a Brother**

 **His Brother, Eerie**

'Tadashi Hamada' was not a stupid creature; did he act it sometimes? Yes, he had to give the illusion of a human, so why not put on a show? He knew Hiro was in his rebellious teen years, and he figured sooner or later, the biological Hamada would run off and so something stupid. He also knew that _Hiro_ knew that if something were happening to just call for Tadashi, and the 'older brother' would come running.

Tadashi put the show on of a slightly frantic and worried older brother, bustling around the property, asking all the house workers, including Fred the gardener who never seemed to walk into the house, if they had seen Hiro since the teen was not in his room. After all that was done, Tadashi just sat back and waited.

He had glanced at the clock at some point, noting it was well into the early AM hours, and while he himself didn't need sleep, Hiro did; and the kid had to get up early in the morning. A cranky Hiro was never a fun thing, even for a demon like Tadashi.

(-)

His footsteps faltered down the alleyway as second thoughts ran through his teenaged mind. _Maybe this wasn't the best idea in the world. Maybe I shouldn't have rushed out, what if my bot isn't good enough? All these people look like they could break me like a small twig._ But the thoughts didn't stop him, his cocky side pushing the timidity out of the way to make room for the ego he was hoping to boost.

He stumbled a bit as he made his way to the man who seemed to stand guard of the entry way to the bot fight that was scheduled to be at the end of the dead-end.

"Aren't you a little young to be here?" The burley man's voice was rough, like he smoked a pack of cigarettes a day since he was born.

"May be, may be not. I saw no rule against age." Hiro raised an eyebrow.

The man looked down his nose at the thirteen year old. He folded his arms across his chest, seemingly to try to frighten Hiro – who wasn't budging from where he stood. "You got the cover charge, kid?" The man asked after a minute of trying to scare the teen away. He unfolded an arm and held his hand out, palm side up, gesturing for the money.

Without breaking eye contact, Hiro reached d into his pocket and pulled out the ten-dollar cover charge and dropped it into the guy's outstretched hand.

The man with biceps the size of Hiro's face stepped a little to the side and motioned with a flick of his head, fro Hiro to go on in.

Moments later, Hiro found himself standing in a very crowded space around a bot-fighting ring. He pushed past a few people, making sure his little bot – that he nicknamed Megabot – stayed in his pocket; just in case he didn't think his little creature could take whatever these people made, he didn't want people to know he came here to fight but backed out.

"Watch out kid!" "Isn't it past your bed time?" "Does mommy know you're here?" "Who let this kid in?" And other little sayings were thrown at him as he pushed his way to the front. He ignored them.

Two guys sat just on the outside of a ring, across from each other, both with very different controllers in their hands while two robots, both about a foot tall, seemed to just dance in a circle. At least, that's what it looked like to Hiro, who was rather bored when that's all the two did for a good handful of minutes. One bot would throw an attack, and the other managed to dodge each time.

The crowd seemed to get a little antsy and frustrated with the fight, they started yelling profanities at the fighters, saying things that shouldn't be heard with young ears and Hiro's mother, if she were still alive, would have washed everyone's mouths out with soap.

The 'referee' intervened at that point. She blew her whistle and called the fight a draw and ushered the two boring opponents away from the ring before calling out for two new challengers. A man with biceps bigger than the guy who was taking cover charge stepped up, and his opponent, and equally sized bicep man, but slightly shorter.

 _Does anyone not work on leg day?_ Hiro absently thought to himself when he noticed a lot of the people there seemed to work out the arms more than anything – not that he should be quick to judge, a thirteen year old who can't even do a pushup.

The slightly shorter man, with hair the shade of the fiery sun, seemed to have an almost bored expression on his face as he let the man across from him, wearing some sort of weird looking beanie, have the first attack.

Sun hair's robot was about a foot tall, a bulking and heavy looking thing that seemed as if it didn't do anything special. Bu it could take a hit from a bigger bot pretty well. The dark blue paint on its surface didn't even seem to be scratched.

Beanie's bot, on the other hand, couldn't take a strike. It obviously wasn't well put together, whenever Sun Hair would hit it, a tiny spark or two would fly, or a little bolt would fall to the floor. Physics would be the first to say that something bigger is usually stronger, and could take more of a hit. Or, that's what Hiro thought sometimes when he'd do things. But evidently, Sun hair's little bot decided to not follow any sort of rule except for how to play this game.

The slim little robot was fast. But Hiro was confident his little Megabot was faster, more like a snake. The bot that was winning in the ring seemed to just throw 'punches'. Hiro's could come apart and magnetize back together; that's about all Hiro's little bot could do. But the teen's cocky side told him he could totally take down who ever won this fight.

And Hiro didn't have t wait too long for his chance to get in the ring.

(-)

"Should we be a little more worried?" Honey Lemon asked when Tadashi suddenly appeared in the kitchen's doorway. "He's only thirteen and to out of the blue sneak out?" She was more than a little worried. She'd worked for the Hamada household for the past six years of her life; the Hamada's had let her live in a nice room on the side of the house where the servants' quarters were, had helped her pay for college – this was a _job_ after all, and she got to eat for free! She had seen the Hamadas as an extended family to her, and Hiro as a younger brother, long before Tadashi showed up. And she knew it was not part of Hiro's personality to just up and sneak out.

And to be honest, she was a little pissed that Tadashi didn't seem all too concerned over the young teen's safety.

The older brother in questioned simply shook his head. "Nah." He stepped around her to make himself a cup a tea, a cup he wouldn't drink. "If he needs help, he'll call." He cryptically, but honestly told her.

She narrowed her eyes at him for a fleeting moment. "What ever you say. At least let me know when he comes home, I won't be able to sleep until I know he's safe." She got up and started walking away.

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine." The demonic brother told her.

She didn't verbally respond, but didn't like how relaxed he looked. And actually, she didn't like Tadashi in general. Something was not right about him, and she was bound to get to the bottom of it.

(-)

The thirteen-year-old CEO was having a ball as he sat in front of the ring for his first ever bot fight. He honestly didn't even really care if he won or not – mostly because this was his first fight and he very well could have underestimated the opponent, and _over_ estimated Megabot's abilities in a fighting environment.

"Fighters ready?" The tall, scantily dressed woman asked in a very announcer-esque tone of voice, her umbrella poised between the two ready-to-battle bots. She waited for a head nod from the both of them before harshly pulling the umbrella away. "Fight!" Her voice started an uproar from the on lookers, a kid playing his first bot fighting round with a very tiny little bot and going up against a well known fighter in that particular neck-of-the-woods. For the moment, the yells weren't negative but Hiro's potential fighting style could tip the crowd to boo – toward him. Or of course, they could continue the cheering for when he wins.

Sun Hair's little robot proved to be a little more of a challenge than Hiro first thought. Although, then teen has to hand it to the bright orange haired man, it was smart to change up your fighting routine for each new fight. Gives a slight element of surprise and keeps the opponent on their toes.

"All right, Megabot," Hiro mumbled to himself under his breath and the roar from the crowd all around. "Destroy." He gave a little pull on the controller in his hand and the control pad doubled in length, revealing more controls and buttons than it originally gave the illusion of.

He missed the knowing smirk Sun Hair gave him.

Minutes later, Hiro's opponent's bot laid in pieces in the ring, and the crowd fell silent for a solid moment. It was long enough for Sun Hair to stand up and hold his hand out to Hiro.

"Not bad for your first game." His voice was rough, but not as deep as Hiro thought it would have sounded.

Hiro hesitantly shook his hand. "Uh, thanks."

With those words exchanged, the crowd cheered.

"That was pretty smart to hide your master controller like that." Sun Hair said after he gathered up his bot pieces from the ring for the next challengers.

"I was worried at first that it would be disqualified." The teen admitted as the two stepped away from the circle drawn on the floor. They shuffled through the crowd to get away from the middle of it all.

The man shrugged. "Not much will get you disqualified here, unless you cheat." He said it with an airy tone. "So, how did a kid like you find out about these things?" He sat the broken pieces of metal and wire on a little table and pulled a bag off the shelves along the wall.

Hiro pocketed his bot. "Heard a colleague talking about it."

The man nodded while he stashed his bot in the little bag he must have brought it in. "That's how I heard about it too, they don't do much advertising, that's for sure." He commented. "But of course, I was slightly older than what, fourteen, fifteen?"

"Thirteen." Hiro corrected him.

"Wow." Was all the man said. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Mind if we step outside so I can smoke?"

The teen motioned for the man to lead the way. Might as well finish their little conversation so he could hurry and get home.

(-)

Turns out, the entire working force that kept up the Hamada Manor saw Hiro as family, and evidently he saw them the same way. Nobody was able to go to sleep until they knew the teen was home, in bed, safe.

"Are you sure we shouldn't call somebody?" Wasabi asked, he stood in the parlor in his pajamas. He was dead tired, but when he tried to fall asleep, his mind kept him awake with apprehension.

"Tadashi said not to worry." Honey Lemon crossed her arms. She leaned back in the chair and pulled a leg up and tucked it underneath her.

Fred, who normally never stepped a voluntary foot indoors unless it was absolutely necessary, had made himself comfortable on the couch. "I say we wait a little while longer before we call someone. You know how the police around here are."

"Absolutely useless." Aunt Cass piped up from her chair cuddled under a blanket with the Hamada cat, Mochi, snuggled on her lap.

"I don't care what Tadashi says." Fred nodded towards the woman they all seemed to have adopted as their aunt. "He may not be overly concerned about Hiro's safety, but we are. And we'll call the police for him."

"Hey, can I get your guys' opinion on something?" Honey's voice was unusually soft and quiet, the volume level of that of a secret whisper, as she changed the subject.

The three adults nodded.

"Do you- has anyone-" She kept stopping herself and hesitating, trying to put the words right. "Does Tadashi creep any of you out?" She finally asked. "Or is this just a 'me' thing."

Fred shook his head. "At some point during the day, the dude has a creepy factor, but other than that one daily point, not really."

Wasabi nodded towards Fred. "Same here." He leaned against the doorway, tipping his head back a little to make sure they weren't being overheard. "The dude can silently appear anywhere. Can't tell you how many times I've almost dropped or broken something because he's startled me."

"He doesn't make a sound!" The blond gardener agreed.

"I don't find him so much as 'creepy' but he does have a mysterious air about him." Cass told the group. "Great conversationalist, though!"

Honey was the most worried out of the group about the man they were talking about. She didn't like something about him, but she didn't know what it was exactly that she didn't like. He was nice – sometimes overly so, polite, and he seemed to care a bunch about Hiro. But the way Tadashi sometimes acted- aloof and shady - when he wasn't in the presence of Hiro, really concerned her.

"I don't like how he just _appeared_ one day." She muttered.

Wasabi shifted to lean on the arm of the chair Cass was in. "I do agree with you there. That was, _is_ too suspicious if you ask me." He reached down to give Mochi a little pet. "Hiro goes missing for months and suddenly, he's back and dragging Tadashi in tow."

"I've worked for the Hamadas for many years, and never _once_ did they mention anything about an older son." Cass told them. "That is a bit _weird_."

At the mention of the former heads of the house, Honey gave a little smile. "I miss them."

Cass gave a small chuckle. "I do too. One time, I was trying to teach Maemi how to cook a simple little pizza, and somehow, _somehow_ , she managed to catch it on fire." She told the quick little memory.

Honey nodded. "I remember that, I had just started working here. And we couldn't get that smell of burnt pizza out for days!" She laughed.

"Had a lot of good times with the Hamadas, lots of late night talks with Maemi, lots of secrets." Cass continued. "But never once did she mention anything about Tadashi." She got back on the topic of the young adult.

Wasabi caught a movement out of the corner of his eyes and he turned a little to see better, and the topic of their discussion was descending the stairs. The man turned back to the group and coughed, gaining their attention before giving a very shallow movement of his head to motion to the creature on the stairs.

The group fell silent.

"Oh, hey everyone." Tadashi greeted when he saw them there. "What's everyone doing down here?"

Cass gave the man a small smile. "We couldn't sleep until we knew Hiro was home. And we somehow boarded a small trip to memory lane." Her green eyes were slightly distant looking, when her thoughts traveled back in time to when Hiro's parents were still alive.

A light laugh came from Tadashi. "Yeah, I know how that goes. Actually, Hiro just called, so I'm gonna go pick him up." He said as he opened the closet door next to the parlor entrance to grab a coat.

Honey shifted in her seat, pulling her legs up underneath her body. "Is he oaky?" She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

The 'Hamada' nodded. ""Yeah, he just needs a ride home." He pulled the coat on. "We'll be back soon." With that he walked out he door.

(-)

Hiro has no idea what the hell happened. One second he's walking out the door behind Sun Hair, and the next, women dressed like the fight's referee were all around him, binding his hands behind his back, tape over his mouth, some sort of fabric over his eyes and was carting him away before he could so much as take a breath of the cool night air.

It was dark for a handful of time before the fabric was ripped off his eyes, showing him he was no longer outside, nor was he in the building where the bot fighters were. This was more like an old, run down office building from one of those old investigating movies.

There was a desk in front of him, and he was in one of the two little chairs facing the desk owner's chair, a little lamp sat off to the side of the desk's surface illuminating a mess of papers and notebooks. The shades and curtains were drawn over the windows, making the room feel smaller and more claustrophobic than it probably was.

Sun Hair sat in the chair in front of him, behind the desk, his hands were together and folded under his chin while he sat there and watched Hiro. "Hiro Hamada."

A brown eye snapped over to the man in front of him, who wore a very giddy and frightening smile on his face. How did this man know Hiro's name? He didn't remember every telling anyone at that fight his name. Much less, his _full_ name.

"Hiro Hamada. Heir to the Hamada fortune, CEO of the Lucky Cat Confections. You graduated high school last year, right?" The man said, he leaned forward on his elbows to get a better look at the teenager before him. "Does anyone know you're out so late, and at a _bot fight?_ " He continued when Hiro didn't give any sort of noise as a response. "Wow, your caregivers are so good at their jobs." His voice was condescending.

Hiro made a noise as if he were trying to respond.

"what was that? I can't understand you when you talk like that." Sun Hair gave a faux pout. He gave a little motion with his hand, and one of the women who were standing behind him, walked around the table to Hiro and ripped off the tape from his mouth.

The sudden stinging pain didn't really phase the teen. _He's been through worse._

" I said: to untie me and let me leave." Hiro had a bored expression on his face. He really didn't have time for whatever game this guy was gonna try to play. He just wanted to go to a bot fight, play it once then leave. He has things he has to do later. And he needs to get home to go to bed.

The man put on a show about thinking. "Eh, not at this precise moment. See," He stood up and began stalking around the desk to look at Hiro. "I honestly don't believe that tonight was your first bot fight." He stopped walking when he got next to the teen, and knelt down to be more Hiro's height. " I think you cheated. And cheating is really the only thing frowned upon here. And that controller you made? We count that as cheating – _false advertisement_ really. Let us believe one thing, then pull a one-eighty." He stood back up and walked behind Hiro.

"That's your fault for not thinking of all the angles." The thirteen year old deadpanned.

Sun Hair gave Hiro a mockingly thoughtful look. "Okay, here's a deal." He leaned up against the desk, facing the young captive. "You pay me back the money you cheatingly won," He paused to see if Hiro had anything to say, and when the teen went to say something, he continued. " _Plus_ a million."

The room fell silent.

Hiro raised an eyebrow from behind his eye patch. "Excuse me?"

The man didn't say anything.

"I am not paying you back the money _you_ lost to _me_. I won that _fait and square._ " He leaned forward just a tad to try to keep from blocking blood from reaching his tied up hands. "And I'm most definitely _not_ paying you a million."

A wicked grin danced across Sun Hair's face. "Well, I guess this is gonna be a tad more difficult than I thought." He straightened to turn to look at his girls behind him.

"What do you need a million for anyway?" Hiro asked. "Its just money."

Sun Hair turned back to the young CEO. He bent down to look Hiro in the eye. "'Its just money'?" He turned back to his girls, but staying bent over. "'It's just money', he says."

The group of ladies laughed, giggling behind their hands.

"What the hell am I missing?" Hiro asked, disgruntled.

"Remember," The man turned back to face Hiro. "Remember that the next time you're company is losing just a little bit of it' s profits because of a few lazy workers. Remember that the next time you _advise_ someone to play the mean card and fire some workers to show the workers that they mean business."

Hiro narrowed his eye. Did this man work for his company? That _could_ explain how he knew Hiro without the thirteen year old telling him anything other than his age. "So, this is about an issue with my company?" His voice was still holding disinterest in the conversation, while it was masking his growing fear of just what else this man knew about him.

The man stood back up. "Go a head ladies. _Its just money_."

Hiro wasn't expecting a very sharp heel to connect with his shoulder, not the suddenly fast iron fist coming at his face; nor did he expect and prepare himself to be dragged off his chair and onto the floor.

But he didn't really do anything to stop it except move his face a little so he didn't lose his other eye.

Hiro let it go on for a little while, how long exactly? That he wasn't sure about, but he deemed it long enough.

"Are you done yet?" He asked between two kicks to his chest, air wheezing out of his lungs. He coughed a little when he tried to breathe in _and_ out at the same time.

Sun Hair came back into his view. "Gonna pay?"

Hiro didn't answer, but defiantly looked up at the man.

"Then they're not gonna stop."

"I think," Hiro wheezed again. "I think you really should stop." His sentence was punctuated by a kick to his head, knocking his eye patch loose and it falling off.

"And why, pray tell, would we do that? If you're not gonna pay, they're not gonna stop." The man gave a huff. "For a genius, you really don't seem like one." He commented under his breath, but Hiro still heard ht.

Hiro was seeing starts for a moment, not even really paying attention to what the man was saying, other than the fact he just insulted Hiro's intelligence

"Tadashi." Hiro suddenly spoke aloud, startling all in the room with him. "You can come get me now." His voice was that of a confident leader, holding authority and a commanding tone. His normally covered eye suddenly began to glow a faint purple, telling him and anyone looking at him that his demon had been contacted. And said creature would be arriving soon.

" _Of course, bocchan."_


End file.
